Spring wheel



R. SANTORO.

\ SPRING WHEEL. 4 APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8. I920. 13.34pm, Patented001;. 31, 1922.

- 2 SHEETS-SHEET I. III

FIG.1- f\+v 1 4 J1 J 1 21 1a J5 5 0) V 17 16' R. SANTORO.

SPRING WHEEL. APPLICATION FILED MAR. 8. 1920.

Panama 001* 31,1922.

' 2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

Patented Get. 31, 1922.

outrun nariri-i san'rono, or nen'riionn, Gonnnorrou r.

srnrne WHEEL.

Application filed March a, 1920. Serial no. 384,124.

To all 107mm may oom/vi:

Be it known that l, Racial fwixu'ronri, a

subject of the King 031? Italy, residin at l-larttord, 1n the county otllartliord ll State of Connecticuuhave invented certain new and useful.lniprovements in llpring d heels, of which the tollmving is a specilicles so as to avoid the necessity for employ iug expensive pneumatictires which are now in extensive use.

T he primary object of the invention is to provide a spring wheel whichis extremely SllllplG in construction but din-able andellicient inoperation.

Further obgects vlll appear as the nature ot the inventionis betterunderstood, which consists in the novel form, combination andarrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in theaccompanying drawings and claimed.

In the drawings wherein like reference characters indicatecorresponding; parts throughout the several views,

Figure l. is a side elevational \lPW, partly broken away, of a vehiclewheel constructed in accordance with. the present invention,

Figure 2 is a top plan view thereof,

l ignre 3 is an enlarged seca nial view La-ken. substantially upon linelll-lll oi liigure -1- a view similar to Fig. 3 upon line lIV-IV of Fig.1,

Figure 1") is a :l'ragn'ientary sectional (hi-tail view on an enlargedscale and taken substantially upon line V-V of Fig. 1,

Figure 6 is an enlarged fragmenta 3y side elevational view of a portionof the wueel shown in 1 to better illustrate thcdetails of theinvention, with a portion ol? a non skid chain indicated by dottedlines, and

Figure 7 is a sectional View taken substantially upon line VHVII oi' lig. (3.

Referring more in detail to the several views, the presentinventionembodies the usual or any preferred form of hub 5 having taker radialspoke membersv or posts 6 rigid therewith and extending outwardlytherefrom as best shown in Fig. 3 so as to provide rigid supports Forthe tulmlar spokes T which are slipped onto the same and which havetheir inner ends threaded as at 8 into the hub or otherwise tast g jl1l1l).5. "A circularinner rim 9 arrangeifl about andconcentric with thehub T and'the outer ends of thetuliiular spokes-i are threaded into theinner rim 9 as at ll) or other so rigidly fastened to said inner riin llwine dent with apertures provided in the latter, It will thus be seenthat the spoke incinhers 6 and tubular spokes nections between the hub 5and the inner rim 9.

An outerrini ll. is

arranged in spaced re- ,lation to andsurrounding the inner rim '9,

and'the two rirnsl) and 11 are yieldably j maintained in concentricnormal relation by suitable elliptical sp'rii'igs 12 or the like whichare arranged at intervals entirely around the wheel betn-en the innerand outer rims. The lower leal? ct each spring is centrally rig'dlyfastened by means of a screw 13 or the like tothe inner rim 9, and theouter leaf ott' each spring 12' and the rim 11 may morecirciunterentially relative to each other, being held. together by meansof screws 14 or the like which through circumferentially elongated slots15 pro rided in the outer leaf of each. spring 12 and are threaded intothe outer rim 11. The outer rim 11 has circular or annular guide flanges16 secured thereto in any suitable manner, and these flanges 16 extendinwardly so as to close the space between the two riins 9 r 1" 1.1 andexclude the entrance oil, dus' guide llai as incontact with the sidefaces ol 1 rim 9 but slidablc radially thereon so a to permit movementof the rims 9 and ll r di ally relativeto each other inwardly oroutwardly.

A hollow plunger 17 is slidably disposed within each. spoke 7 and hasits outer end provided with a hall '5," or other suitableanti-trictii'in ll'lelllll il wh ch bears against the inner surface ofth cuter rim 11, the plunger 17 being normally pressed outwardly of thespokes 7 by means of helical compression springs 19 which are arrangedwithin the spokes 7 and the plungers 17 as shown in Fig. 3. l

A collar 20 is slidably disposed upon each spoke 7, and each collar 20is slidably connected to links 21 adjacent the flanges 16 by means ofbook shaped bolts 22, engaging through slots 23 in the lower end of thelink 21., the upper ends of the links 21 being piv- '1 the latter, thesaid 24: for such distance as is necessary in op eration. By forming theouter ends of the bolts 22 in hook-shapeas shown, suitable anti-skiddevices may be anchored thereto when tound necessary,.such as the chain26 illustrated by dotted lines in Fig. 6 oi the drawings.

The links 21 term positive driving con-.

nections between the inner andv outer rims t-ical springs 12 withtheouter rim and the mere contacting association of the plungers slide intothe spokes 7 below the horizontal of the wheel after the said rims havebeen allowed to move a limited distance circumferentially relative toeach other by means of the pin and slot connection of the ellip- 17 withsaid outer rim.

In operation, the yehiole wheel is placed upon an automobile or the likein the usual manner, and, due to the load, the hub is caused tomove'toward the ground and toward'the portion ofthe rim 11 whichcontacts with the ground. This is allowed by reason of the fact that theplungers 17 can center of the wheel, and the collars 20 can slideupwardly 011 the spokes 7 at this point. \Vhen this takes place, thespokes which are horizontally disposed move downwardly together with theplungers 17, at which time the balls 18 roll along the inner surface ofthe rim 11 and the links 21 swing downwardly upon their pivots 24. Thereare other minute and detailed changes which take place, but these arebelieved to be readily apparent from the description. and are notthought necessary to be mentioned herein.

' It is believed that the construction and operation as well as theadvantages of the present invention will. be readily understood andappreciated by those skilled .in' the art,

Minor changes may be made without departing from the spirit andv scopeof? the in \ention as claimed.

lvhat'l claim is A sprii'ig wheel including a hub, an inner and an outerrim. links pivotally carried by the outer ri in and slotted at theirlower ends, a plurality of springs arranged between said rims, springpressed spoke rnembers between said outer rim, and said hub, portions ofthe said spring spokemembers rigidly connectt-he inner rim and said hubin spaced re lation, collars slidably positioned upon the said springspokes and hook-shaped bolts carried by said collars engaging throughthe slots in said pivoted links.

In testimony whereof I my signature.

" RALPHsANToRo.

